May I, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



879 



ency and principal towns of India and to some ex- 

 tent Covent Garden in London and tlie East 

 Market in Melbourne. Our one great advantage lies 

 in the direction of a plentiful and reliable labour 

 supply. The negroes of Jamaica have ever been given 

 to a semi-savage and thriftless system of squatting 

 and growing almost exclusively ground provisions, 

 and now those of tliem inclined to work are going oil in 

 shoals to Panama, to give their labour aud in too many 

 cases their lives under the incitement of wages equal 

 to $\, or 4s '2d, per diem. Still jirogress has been 

 made, and those who may be contemplating the es- 

 tablishment of extensive and systematically managed 

 fruit orchards near Colombo will be interested in the 

 details of the Jamaica fruit trade which Mr. Morris 

 afibrds. Reserving a special notice for those portions 

 of the report whicli deal with the very successful 

 cinchona enterprize, we deal today with the fruits 

 which are exported to America. And first, beyond 

 compare, in importance, is the prolific combination 

 of starch and sugar which we in Ceylon call tlie 

 plantain, but which in the West Indies aud all over 

 the western world and also in Australia is known 

 as the banana. An authority in wliom, from his 

 long experience and shrewd observing habits, we have 

 much confidence has condemned the plantain as a 

 shade plant for cacao (supposing shade were needed) 

 because of the soil exhausting nature of the plantain 

 Itself, orchards of the plant needing to be manured 

 in order to save them from a condition which in the 

 West Indies is indicated by the significant word 

 " ruinate." The difference in favour of the soil in 

 Jamaica is shown by the fact tliat Mr. Morris all 

 through his reports takes it for granted that tlie 

 growtli of plantain as a shade plant will not de- 

 prive the main culture of cacao of any material por- 

 tion of the fertile elements it needs. At the very 

 commencement, Mr, Morris writes of cacao " whicli, 

 combined with that of bananas, promises to be an 

 important industry '' ; and when he comes to deal 

 specially with the banana enterprize he writes : — 



B.\NANA.'!. — This is the leading fiuit interest in the 

 island, and it is biing prosecuted with energy and 

 success by both European aud negro settlers. As a 

 nurse industry preparatory to that of cacao, banana 

 eultivatinii deserves every encourigement. 



It isto be hoped that no land placed undir banana 

 cultivation, wl'ich is, of necessity, according to the 

 strength and chatacler of the soil, of a more or less 

 temporary character, will be allowed to fall into ruinate. 

 Every banana plant should be utilized as a nurse for a 

 cacao plant and thus when the banana fails, the cacao 

 will take its place, to remain as a penntiuent cultivation, 

 and a source of continued wealth to the colony. 



Where bananas obtain good prices, as in Jamaica, it 

 is no exaggeration to sny that a cacao estate can be 

 established here under more favourable conditions than 

 in any other British possession. 



The export of the fruit had risen from 163,000 

 bunches valued at £16,000 in 1877 to 887 000 bunches 

 valued at £S8,737 in 1882. The valuation seems to 

 be at the rate of £1 for ten bunches. We have 

 counted 250 separate fruits on a bunch, and we ha\e 

 no doubt 300 has been reached and exceeded. But, 

 taking 100 fruits as an average, we get 8S7 millions 

 of fruits exported in 1882, of which, allowing for tlio 

 perishable nature of the fruits, some 750 millions must 

 have gone into consumption in the United States. 

 The plantain is, undoubtedly, not only a palatable 

 but a wholesome and nutritious fruit, and, accordin^T 

 to Humboldt, yielding a return of nutritious matter 

 per acre, fortyfold more than wheat. Plantains split 

 and dried in the sun or in an oven closely resemlde 

 figs, to which many prefer them. The stems, which, 

 like those of the raspberry, yield only one crop of 



fruit, had better be left on the ground as manure. 

 Mr. Koutledge, the papermaker, has finally pronounceel 

 against them as fibre plants, the proportion of fibre 

 to watery matter being so minute. The next fruit on 

 the list is the orange, and of this fruit the export has 

 increased from 8,2o8,000 valued at £5,767 in 1877 

 to .354 millions in 1882 valued at £33,684. The ex- 

 port of pineapples is still limited, the figures for 1882 

 being 8.887 dozens valued .at £1,111; but Mr. Morris 

 writes :— 



Continued attention is being given to the cultivation 

 of pine-apples in the nei(;hbourhood of Kingston and 

 generally in dry sandy districts within easy reach of 

 shipping facilities. 



In order to assist this industry, I have lately obtained 

 through the Knyal Gardens, Kew, a selection of all the 

 best pints under cultivation m England such as Lord 

 Carrington, Smooth Cayenne, Lady Beatrice, etc., etc., 

 which, with those already in the island, will place cult- 

 ivatnrs in possession of the finest strains for size and 

 colour obtaiuable anywhere. 



I have also, by the kindness of Mr, Anderson, 

 obtained plants of the "Scarlet" and "Cuban" pines 

 fiom the Bahamas, which obtain so much favour in the 

 New York mai ket. 



We have no doubt Dr. Trimen will show himself 

 willing to secure equal advantages for Ceylon, where 

 pineapple cultivation ought to be profitable with re- 

 ference to fibres as well as frnits. The export of 

 mangoes from Jamaica is also in its early stage, the 

 figures for 1882 being 150,671 fruits valued at £145. 

 Mr. Morris remarks : — 



The East Indian mangoes are being gradually dis- 

 tributed througl-out the ifland. which, as they possess 

 better keeping qualities than the celebrated No. 11 

 mango of Jamaica, should receive greater attention 

 from those who grow this fruit for shipmen'. The 

 export value of mangoes is steadily increasing, and, 

 bciore Itng, if properly selected and packed, they will 

 no doubt form an impoitant article of commerce be- 

 tween this island and America. 



In consequence of the drought the export of coconuts 

 had decreased from 6,315,000 in 188ti to 2,5(J0,C0O 

 in 1881. The total value of fruit exports in 1882 

 was £1.35,000, and it is impossible to predict the 

 dimensions to which it may glow. We do not see 

 why Ceylon also should not besides supplying local 

 and passenger steamer elemand, have a profitable ex- 

 port trade in table fruits. 



HOW THE CHINESE MANUFACTURE 



" LIE TEA " 



is revealed in a letter to the Argus from Mr. Bain- 

 bridge, the Assam planter and tea expert who, at 

 Mr.J.L. Moody's request, reported on the rubbishy 

 Chinese teas recently importecl into Melbourne. We 

 fjuote as follows : — 



Thi se teas are of a very inferior description, and 

 are evidently mixed up with various foreign sub- 

 stances, which could not have been introduced in the 

 ordinaiy process of manuiai tuie in a properly managed 

 tea factor}. It is quite clear to me, as an experienced 

 tea maker of 22 years' staneling, that the samples are 

 made up by an admixture of fair tea with old leaf, 

 picked up from the ground, and infused leaf, which 

 has been recoloured and renewed by steeping in a 

 strong decoction of piuriiugs mixed with some kind 

 of starch or gum, to set the colour. On carefully 

 separating aud examining the iniused leaf 1 found 

 some which it is quite evident does not belong to 

 any known variety of the tea plant, aud there is ulso 

 an undue proportion of stalk, and much;dust and rubbish. 



The factory in which these teas were manufactured 

 must have lieen of the most filthy description, orihe 



